Even my mother knew very well,

thought we ate in the kitchen, 

though we slept in the house,

that we lived in the barn. Ask the cows;

I talked to them more than I did my parents,

and the cows listened. They liked the same music

on the radio, soothing, soulful. Sometimes 

just like my parents, they kicked back. 

But sometimes they nodded knowingly

and asked very few questions.